"Granted one more sniff of the Festival Book Shop, off I trotted at about 7.30pm and there he was, Robert Macfarlane with his signing queue still snaking out of the door. I watched for a while... he was talking interestedly and at length to each person and it was clear plenty of people were prepared to wait for the opportunity. Plenty too seemed to be offering suggestions about more words for the glossaries in Landmarks, laying out books in front of him with carefully marked pages, turning to each one and pointing something out while Robert looked on and listened with patient attention. In the rarified microcosm that is a literary festival this all seemed to be signalling a heightened awareness and a genuine revival of respect for these disappearing words before it is too late, and it can only be hoped that the interest and enthusiasm spreads beyond the confines. As well as taking an interest in schools' projects, Robert Macfarlane revealed that he will be collaborating on a children's book in the near future, one that brings back the words lost from this year's Oxford Junior Dictionary, words like catkin and acorn, buttercup and bluebell (replaced by blog, broadband, cut-and-paste and voice-mail.) so it is clear that he has a commendable vision for this that goes far beyond the pages of his book.

I could just say that and leave it there because The Lost Words is such pure enchantment and genius of collaboration that I really don't want to spoil the magic for any of you by giving too much away, either about the spells or the pictures.

These spells deserve a little bit of mystery, anticipation and the unexpected, a big reveal; Robert's words conjuring up the 'near-lost magic' and the mood of twenty words from Acorn to Wren, whilst Jackie's illustrations wave like a wand across the pages bringing the words from near invisibility into being. The intention is to read aloud, to seek, to find and speak, to discover the things that are missing and hidden, the absence and the re-appearance, to unfold dreams and summon the lost words back into the imagination and the mind's eye. Bramble marches, conker glows, dandelion dazzles, fern flares. I sense the welcome stardust of Gerard Manley Hopkins in these pages, there is subtle assonance and alliteration, hints of in-scape and in-stress, spells that will commit to memory and it is easy to imagine little fingers seeking the words in the cascade of letters or tracing the goldfinches across the pages...

...or finding acorns and wanting to plant them because 'as kindness is to good so acorn is to wood.'

...or revisiting the forgotten beauty of conkers, their burnished glow.

...or waiting for bluebell season with renewed anticipation to find 'the late-day light' and to step into the ocean.

When I turned the page to Jackie's double-page bluebell wood I was as startled as if I had stumbled on a real bluebell wood by chance, it is no exaggeration to say I was 'pulled down by the hue,' and 'lost in the depths' of the page. I want the colour in my mind's eye for ever, no camera can replicate Jackie's exactness.

The book will be a gift of great magnitude for any child given that it measures 15" by 11" (you'll need a whole sheet of wrapping paper) and weighs in at premature baby size. It's a book that is scaled up rather than scaled down, a joy to see these days, and I am envisaging children clutching this under their arms with looks of acute concentration on their faces.

But the children can't have all the fun because I am imagining grown-ups doing likewise.

I'll be tramping in New Zealand on launch day and I'll never get the date right anyway with the time difference, but I'll be there in spirit and I'm giving you advance warning now, time enough to plan, because seriously, make sure you are somewhere special to buy a copy of The Lost Words on October 5th. Make it a memorable Day of The Lost Words (the official launch will be on that day with a ticketed event at Foyles in London) and if you don't have a child to buy for, don't worry, buy one for yourself (in fact buy one for yourself anyway) because I can promise you won't regret it. I have been regularly nursing mine on my lap for several weeks. For children The Lost Words is an early investment in awe and wonder, a chance to know the words that are disappearing from the dictionary; for us more weathered and cynical grown-ups it is a chance to rewind the wonder-clock and be enchanted once again. Each time I pick the book up, or maybe it picks me up, I'm not sure because I often abandon what I am doing and read some spells, and each time I see new things. Children will see even more. And each time I have a new favourite...

Maybe it's 'Huge-hinged heron'...

or perhaps it's the lark whose song is 'torrenting on.'

For now it is 'heather' because Dartmoor is awash with it at the moment...

and here the last few lines (note how the upper case letters have spelt the word)

"Granted one more sniff of the Festival Book Shop, off I trotted at about 7.30pm and there he was, Robert Macfarlane with his signing queue still snaking out of the door. I watched for a while... he was talking interestedly and at length to each person and it was clear plenty of people were prepared to wait for the opportunity. Plenty too seemed to be offering suggestions about more words for the glossaries in Landmarks, laying out books in front of him with carefully marked pages, turning to each one and pointing something out while Robert looked on and listened with patient attention. In the rarified microcosm that is a literary festival this all seemed to be signalling a heightened awareness and a genuine revival of respect for these disappearing words before it is too late, and it can only be hoped that the interest and enthusiasm spreads beyond the confines. As well as taking an interest in schools' projects, Robert Macfarlane revealed that he will be collaborating on a children's book in the near future, one that brings back the words lost from this year's Oxford Junior Dictionary, words like catkin and acorn, buttercup and bluebell (replaced by blog, broadband, cut-and-paste and voice-mail.) so it is clear that he has a commendable vision for this that goes far beyond the pages of his book.

I could just say that and leave it there because The Lost Words is such pure enchantment and genius of collaboration that I really don't want to spoil the magic for any of you by giving too much away, either about the spells or the pictures.

These spells deserve a little bit of mystery, anticipation and the unexpected, a big reveal; Robert's words conjuring up the 'near-lost magic' and the mood of twenty words from Acorn to Wren, whilst Jackie's illustrations wave like a wand across the pages bringing the words from near invisibility into being. The intention is to read aloud, to seek, to find and speak, to discover the things that are missing and hidden, the absence and the re-appearance, to unfold dreams and summon the lost words back into the imagination and the mind's eye. Bramble marches, conker glows, dandelion dazzles, fern flares. I sense the welcome stardust of Gerard Manley Hopkins in these pages, there is subtle assonance and alliteration, hints of in-scape and in-stress, spells that will commit to memory and it is easy to imagine little fingers seeking the words in the cascade of letters or tracing the goldfinches across the pages...

...or finding acorns and wanting to plant them because 'as kindness is to good so acorn is to wood.'

...or revisiting the forgotten beauty of conkers, their burnished glow.

...or waiting for bluebell season with renewed anticipation to find 'the late-day light' and to step into the ocean.

When I turned the page to Jackie's double-page bluebell wood I was as startled as if I had stumbled on a real bluebell wood by chance, it is no exaggeration to say I was 'pulled down by the hue,' and 'lost in the depths' of the page. I want the colour in my mind's eye for ever, no camera can replicate Jackie's exactness.

The book will be a gift of great magnitude for any child given that it measures 15" by 11" (you'll need a whole sheet of wrapping paper) and weighs in at premature baby size. It's a book that is scaled up rather than scaled down, a joy to see these days, and I am envisaging children clutching this under their arms with looks of acute concentration on their faces.

But the children can't have all the fun because I am imagining grown-ups doing likewise.

I'll be tramping in New Zealand on launch day and I'll never get the date right anyway with the time difference, but I'll be there in spirit and I'm giving you advance warning now, time enough to plan, because seriously, make sure you are somewhere special to buy a copy of The Lost Words on October 5th. Make it a memorable Day of The Lost Words (the official launch will be on that day with a ticketed event at Foyles in London) and if you don't have a child to buy for, don't worry, buy one for yourself (in fact buy one for yourself anyway) because I can promise you won't regret it. I have been regularly nursing mine on my lap for several weeks. For children The Lost Words is an early investment in awe and wonder, a chance to know the words that are disappearing from the dictionary; for us more weathered and cynical grown-ups it is a chance to rewind the wonder-clock and be enchanted once again. Each time I pick the book up, or maybe it picks me up, I'm not sure because I often abandon what I am doing and read some spells, and each time I see new things. Children will see even more. And each time I have a new favourite...

Maybe it's 'Huge-hinged heron'...

or perhaps it's the lark whose song is 'torrenting on.'

For now it is 'heather' because Dartmoor is awash with it at the moment...

and here the last few lines (note how the upper case letters have spelt the word)

Constants...

Team Tolstoy

Team TolstoyA year-long shared read of War & Peace through the centenary year of Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy's death, starting on his birthday, September 9th 2010.
Everyone is welcome to board the troika and read along, meeting here on the 9th of every month to chat in comments about the book.

Team Tolstoy BookmarkDon't know your Bolkonskys from your Rostovs?
An aide memoire that can be niftily printed and laminated into a double-sided bookmark.

Port Eliot Festival

Copyright

I try to be extremely careful about any images used on this blog, most of them are my own and if not I check permissions for use very carefully.
If you think I have breached copyright rules in any way please let me know.